Silicon Motion Shares Jumped: What You Need to Know

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of multimedia- and storage-chip designer Silicon Motion Technology (NAS: SIMO) jumped as much as 17.2% overnight on several times their normal trading volume.

So what: Last night's third-quarter report totally crushed the Street's earnings targets while reported and guided sales also came in above analyst expectations. I know this is hard to believe, but Silicon Motion is exploring new 52-week highs and has more than tripled over the last year.

Now what: The outperformance rests partly on 15% sequential sales growth in the flash memory controller segment but mostly on large 4G LTE signal transceiver orders from early LTE bird Samsung. That division saw 58% higher sales from one quarter to the next.

The stock has obliterated 4G alternatives of all sorts over the last year, from chip rivals Spreadtrum (NAS: SPRD) and Sequans Communications (NAS: SQNS) to -- dare I say it? -- wireless technology researcher VirnetX (ASE: VHC) . If you're looking to invest in the onrushing 4G revolution, Silicon Motion seems like the most direct way of getting it done. Click here to brush up on another path to profits from the smartphone revolution.

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At the time this
article was published Fool contributor Anders Bylund holds no position in any of the companies mentioned. We Fools may not all hold the same opinion, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. Check out Anders' holdings and bio, or follow him on Twitter and Google+. We have a disclosure policy.